Is the AMC version of The Walking Dead board game any good? Yes… Oh yes it is! And here is my full review!

Overall rating 91/100 (Outstanding!)

Who Would Enjoy this game?Obviously if your even reading this article your one of three people. Either you’ve read the comic books and wanted to give this version of the board game a try. Or You’re a huge fan the AMC show and want to take your fanboy status to the next level. Or your a Zombie fan looking for a good zombie game. If your any of these three – there isn’t a chance you won’t love this game. In fact people who don’t even know anything about “TWD” really enjoy this game because the game play elements are fantastic.

What’s in the box?Everyone wants to know if the price tag is worth it, right? If you go to Barns and Nobles you can pick up this game for 39.99 (Like i did) or you can pick it up for cheaper if you don’t mind a wait from amazon for about 31.99. I can’t tell you how impressed I was with the materials of this game. The most outstanding feature which I have never actually seen before is the board it’s self. The board is a large mat (same material that mouse pads are made from) that rolls out. There is a protective coating on the top of it to prevent scuffs from happening. This is the greatest idea I have ever seen in board games. You just roll it out, then roll it back up. No more carefully folding some board out or in trying to prevent the inevitable rips in the seems of the board. My hat off to the Cryptozoic company that made this game. The playing cards are large and have a real playing card feel to them. They won’t rip easy. The other parts of the game are all made from thick, thick cardboard. It would take some serious carelessness to bend one of these things in half. The durability of this game I would rate a 10 out of 10.

Game PlayFor the purpose of this article I won’t dive too deep into the mechanics of the game – rather give you the over all feel and style. The game can be played 1 – 4 players. (That’s right – this board game you can play by yourself! WIN!) This is currently the only board game I own at the moment that can be played solo. Nice feature! Just now I played with my wife.

The goal of the game is to get supplies from 4 different locations on the four corners of the map and make it back to camp before dying. It sounds simple enough. Each player is on their own – we can travel together or in different directions. You get “Ally” tokens representing more people in your individual player party. As you fight zombies along your jounrey – but lose – you will lose an “Ally” token. That Ally dies and doesn’t come back. Lose all your Ally tokens and get bit by a zombie and your dead… for a turn… then you come back as a zombie and try to kill other players! TWIST!
There are a limited number of supplies in the whole game. Once the supply deck runs out – its out. Just like in the real world they don’t self renew – so you must use each card wisely.

My wife and I thought this would be easy to do. But right during the first turn she had to choose between using two of her precious weapons or take a chance and lose an Ally – she sat there for 10 minutes trying to decide what would be the best thing to do. We got really really into this! Each turn was a fight for our lives as the supplies were running low. Both of us made a few minor mistakes which eventually cost her, her life. Sadly when she came back as a zombie she was in the last area I was trying to get to and I kept having to fight her without any success. I was low on supplies and out of Allies… Dead. SO MUCH FUN!

What are the Negatives?
Virtually none.

The only thing I kept thing was that this board game was created during Season 1. So all the characters and objectives are based off of season 1. I do wish that had released a newer version by now that included more locations from the other two seasons. Or more characters from the other seasons – no Daryle was a bummer.

The game only goes up to 4 players. This seems like a great game for 6 – 8 players. I hope they release an expansion soon!

Please note these negatives are trivial at best. Other games I will be reviewing in the future I will have a mouth full to say about this section.

Should I buy this version vs. the comic book version of the game?So just to be clear there are TWO walking dead board games. One based on the comic book, and this one based on the TV series… which is based on the comic. Just to be clear – I read the comics first, then watched the show. I love both – but… the comics are better lol. That is not to take anything away from the show, because the show is very well done. Just a fact. So for me to tell you to skip the comic book version of the board game and pick up the TV show version says a lot. The comic book version, (from what I’ve read – not played myself) is slow and boring. But read up on it yourself if your still not sure.

Final ThoughtsI am a huge board gamer. Ticket to Ride, Munchkin, MTG, Risk, etc. I like to play anything that’s not by Hasbro – which has had a monopoly (No pun intended) on board games in stores for a while. So please understand the weight behind this statement even if you have not read the comics or seen any of the episodes of AMC’s The Walking Dead – but simply want to play a survival game – don’t look any further. I cannot wait to get another two people with us so that we can do the 4 player mode!

Final Scoring.Physical Parts of Game = 10Game Play Balance = 9Immersion Into Game = 10Re-playability = 9Learning Curve = 8 (Can learn to play in 15 minutes or less)Overall Score (not an avarage) = 91% (Outstanding!)